Changing Pace
by kurgaya
Summary: Encounters!verse - Pokemon xover - Eventually there had been nothing to keep him from leaving (except his common-sense and will to crawl back into bed).


**Notes: ****Lightning515**, this is your fault :P ...Also, I take a few digs at the Pokemon world's society in this story... It's so easy to.

* * *

**Changing Pace**

* * *

"Gooooooood morning my son!"

You'd think that after eighteen years of being woken up in the same way, Ichigo would have developed the ability to be able to sleep through his father's boisterousness. But no, he thought, grumbling and hiding himself further under his duvet, there was little he could do as Isshin Kurosaki kicked open the bedroom door and threw himself across the room.

"Wakey-wakey Ichigo!" the man sang, wrenching the duvet out of Ichigo's iron hold. "Guess what day it is?"

"Go to Hell," the teenager mumbled. He covered his ears and rolled towards the window, his father's brilliant smile too bright for the God-awful time of morning that it was. Isshin didn't seem deterred: dumping the bundle of covers onto the carpet, he leaned down and - before Ichigo could do anything to stop him - scooped his eighteen year old son up and slung him over one shoulder. He spun them around the small room a few times, cackling with every kick that dug into his stomach, and then paraded downstairs to where the two more sensible members of the household were currently eating a quiet breakfast.

Karin and Yuzu took one look at the pair and sighed. They knew that they just had to let the testosterone run its course.

"Don't give me that look, my darling daughter!" Isshin wailed, pouting at Yuzu. Karin had turned back to her cereal without a care. "It's all in good fun! I made sure he was wearing his boxers before dragging him out of bed."

"Small mercies," came the dark mutter from Karin.

"No you fucking didn't," Ichigo snapped. "Now put me down or I swear to _God_ - "

Isshin cut him off, laughing with no intention of letting him go. "You'll just have to live with this for a little longer, my son. Today's the day you move out after all!" His voice broke slightly at the end, and that was the only thing that prevented Ichigo from delivering another kick to his solar plexus.

"I'm doing what?" he asked.

"Going on an adventure! Since it's your eighteenth birthday, it's a tradition to give you your first Pokemon and send you into the world!"

Ichigo had completely forgotten about that. In fact, he'd completely forgotten that it was his birthday, too. "Oh okay," he said. "When do I leave?"

Isshin started to cry so hard that he actually put Ichigo down and ran into the living room to sob in front of the poster of his late wife. Yuzu scampered after him with her arms open for a hug. Karin muttered 'tactless' under her breath as she cleared up the dishes, sending Ichigo a frown. Oblivious as to what he'd said to warrant such a reaction from his family, Ichigo shrugged and made himself breakfast: he knew everything would calm down in the next twenty minutes, and they'd go back to insulting each other for fun.

They were a strange family. Living an hour away from the nearest city did has it's merits from time to time, but Ichigo figured that the lack of civilisation was the reason they'd all been driven insane over the years. Some would put Isshin's unusual eccentricity down to losing his wife, but no, the three Kurosaki children would all heartily argue that their father had always carried the characteristic, and while Masaki's death may have prompted him to take on the role of a mother as well as a father, it wasn't the cause of his ridiculous behaviour. They didn't know what the actual cause was, and this fact made it harder for them to change it, but easier for them to shut up and live with it. Life would be boring without Isshin, and Ichigo supposed he was about to find out just how boring it would be.

"Anyway," said Isshin after breakfast, wiping away the last of his tears. "I've already got you your first Pokemon. I know you'll love it."

"Wait," said Ichigo flatly. "I don't get to choose?"

"There are too many Pokemon in the world for you to _choose_," stressed his father. "And as much as I love you, I don't have the time or patience to write a list of them all."

Well that didn't seem very fair. "What about a choice of three? I don't even get that?"

"Well," said Isshin, and the way he broke out into a grin troubled Ichigo. "You do actually get a bit of a choice, I suppose. Hang on, I'll be right back." He dashed off upstairs with a spring in his step, and Ichigo turned to his sisters.

"Have you got any idea what he's going on about?"

"Beats me," said Karin, shrugging. Yuzu shook her head sadly.

Isshin returned just a few moments later, a small furry blob of chestnut and white in his hands. He thrust the Pokemon at his son, and Ichigo hastily took the squirming bundle with an expression of open terror on his face. The Pokemon uncurled in the more stable hold, and two black, beady eyes peered around the room before settling on Ichigo's. It squeaked happily at the sight of him, pawing at his pyjamas.

"Oh god," the teenager breathed despairingly. "It's _cute_."

"_Isn't it_ _just_?" Isshin squealed.

The Eevee made another noise, apparently agreeing.

* * *

As it turned out, his father didn't know that much about Eevees ("It can evolve into a Pokemon of any type" was the extent of his knowledge) and since this wasn't hugely productive, Ichigo decided to make Pallet Town his first goal. After showering, his two sisters had helped him pack a rucksack with everything he'd need ("I need a house." "I don't think that will fit.") - or perhaps, 'what they had lying around' would describe the situation better - while the newest addition to the family watched from Ichigo's bed. It was either extremely well behaved, Ichigo mused, or had gotten it's claws stuck in the duvet. He'd vote for the latter.

Eventually there had been nothing to keep him from leaving (except his common-sense and will to crawl back into bed, but in a society where young adults were kicked out of their homes with nothing but the clothes on their back and a single, powerless Pokemon, these two factors obviously weren't important enough at changing people's minds). Yuzu started to cry when he slipped on his trainers, and during the ten minutes it took calming her down, Ichigo's Eevee stared at them all as if it'd never seen a more horrific thing in it's life.

It was going to be an interesting first companion, that much Ichigo was sure.

On foot, it was going to take a while to get to Pallet Town. Ichigo knew he had enough money in his bank account to get him practically anywhere in the region, but that amount wasn't infinite and he didn't want to spend it without having some way of replacing it. His boss informed him that if he was ever in Vermilion City his job was available for him to take up again, and while this eased the finance burden off of Ichigo's shoulders somewhat, Kanto was massive and he wasn't always going to be near a train station that could ferry him back. He might not even _stay_ in Kanto, and that thought excited Ichigo just as much as it frightened him.

"Shall we head for Saffron?" he asked, looking down at the Eevee at his feet. It (he? She? He didn't really want to check) cocked its head, excessively large ears flopping against it's tiny head. Ichigo took that to mean 'where ever' (though he wasn't well-versed in Eevee language) and stuffed the map back into his bag. "Come on then."

The Eevee trotted along behind him. Occasionally he'd turn around to find that it had disappeared - the first time this happened almost sent him into a full-blown panic - but by the fourteenth occurrence he'd gotten used to it. It always came back (much to his surprise) and never really wandered far. He wondered if that meant it'd started to like him - Ichigo liked to think he was the most tolerable of the Kurosakis; his father was insane, Karin was boring, and Yuzu was obsessed with cute things - no doubt an encounter with an Eevee would end in disaster. It was either that or it was depending on him for survival - he was the one carrying the Pokemon food, after all.

(He spent a solid week pondering if Eevees were carnivorous. This turned out to be a problem when they entered Viridian Forest; every Caterpie he looked at made him feel guilty).

Those thoughts were pushed aside when they got lost - not a huge dilemma in itself, but then it started to pour down with rain, and Ichigo would rather not be in a forest when the lightning struck. Navigating was challenging in such weather though, and they eventually had to surrender to the storm and huddle under the largest tree in sight. His Eevee dived inside of his rain coat (Ichigo had to fold his arms to keep the poor thing from slipping out) but there was only so much a piece of fabric could do.

"I'm sorry," he said, stroking the Pokemon through his coat. "You don't like lightning, huh?"

It made a pathetic noise, and Ichigo only felt worse. Completely soaked, miserable, and worried that they were going to be stuck all night, Ichigo didn't register the fact that someone was approaching until the drumming of the rain against his skin died away, and the shine in the corner of his vision was more than just the anger in the sky. He looked up, brushed both his hood and hair off of his face, and saw a tall, elegant Pokemon - she (it looked very much like a female: a white dress, and short green hair) was hovering just a few inches off of the ground, and Ichigo blinked. It was not a Pokemon he recognised.

"Thank you, Gardevoir," said a rich voice, and Ichigo turned. There was a young man standing beside the Gardevoir - he wasn't wearing a coat, but even so his clothes and white, gravity-defying hair were dry. He had dark eyes, a pale face, and a scowl that was revealed in another flash of lightning. "Are you okay?"

Ichigo shifted, and his bones groaned. He hadn't been sitting long, but the rain seemed to have aged him. "Just cold," he admitted, blinking more water out of his eyes. The ghostly yellow barrier curled around them was keeping the worst of the weather away. "Thank you."

The stranger offered him a hand, and Ichigo thanked him again, taking it.

"Are you heading towards Pewter or Viridian?" asked the stranger, his sharp gaze checking Ichigo over.

"Viridian," Ichigo confirmed. "Pallet, actually." Eevee scrambled inside of his coat, and Ichigo quickly pushed it up so that it's head was sticking out underneath his jaw. The stranger startled at the sight of the small Pokemon, but let his lips quirk up into a smile. The Gardevoir peered down at them, stared for a moment, and then returned her gaze to the forest, unconcerned.

"I can take you to Viridian," continued the other male, glancing around to check his bearings. "You're not actually far from the path."

"Typical," Ichigo muttered. Eevee head-butted him. "Ow, hey! You're the one who got scared!"

The stranger looked on, amused. Eevee hid back inside of Ichigo's coat, leaving him to face the mortification alone. "Sorry," he muttered, feeling foolish.

"It's fine," said the other, and they started to trek through the damp, dark forest, the Gardevoir in the middle of the party keeping them dry. Ichigo vowed that the next Pokemon he acquired was going to be one that could warm him up, or shelter him from the weather. Maybe a Growlithe, he mused. If he evolved it into an Arcanine he wouldn't have to walk everywhere either. Then again, water-logged fur was the last thing any of them needed.

They arrived in Viridian City just under half an hour later. Eevee let out a cry of joy when the stranger (now known to be called Toshiro) pointed them in the direction of the Pokemon Centre, and Ichigo thanked him yet again. Toshiro brushed it off with a shrug, but he seemed pleased that they'd made it out of the forest in one piece. Two of the Pokemon nurses came and fussed over them once they were safely inside the bright, warm building, and Ichigo allowed himself to relax.

Toshiro returned his Gardevoir to her pokeball, but Ichigo handed Eevee over to one of the nurses. When a beat passed and she was still smiling at him expectantly, Ichigo's content smile dropped down into a puzzled frown.

"Do you have your Eevee's pokeball?" the nurse asked him: Ichigo and Eevee exchanged a disbelieving look.

"No," Ichigo replied slowly. "I don't think I ever used one..."

"You should probably remedy that," quipped Toshiro, his rosy lips pressed together. "If only to remove the 'wild' status from your Eevee."

Ichigo felt like an idiot. Eevee flattened its ears down and seemed to roll its eyes. "Thanks," he muttered, when the nurse scurried off with his Eevee anyway. Since it would take a little bit of time for his Pokemon to be returned to him as good as new, Ichigo turned to Toshiro and said, this time much more sincerely, "Thank you. I think I'll stay here for the night." He'd gotten used to crashing on sofas. "Is there anything I can do in return...?"

Toshiro shook his head, but then paused, glancing around. "A coffee would be appreciated, actually. I've still got some business to attend before it gets too late."

"Coffee I can do," Ichigo said, pleased. "Eevee will probably want some too."

An eyebrow rose in disbelief. Ichigo laughed nervously. "Nobody gave me a handbook for this stuff," he defended, and Toshiro rolled his eyes in amusement. "And anyway, he likes the stuff."

"Well...Your Eevee certainly is a character."

"...There's an insult in there somewhere, isn't there?"

Toshiro laughed.

* * *

**End Notes**: Ah lost my muse. This was going to go on for a bit longer, but I couldn't find the words.


End file.
